“Honey to my soul”

Here’s the scene- the mail’s arrived. Like a kid, you approach the box with anticipation. You quickly grab the envelopes and begin to rummage through looking for what? That pearl in the oyster, “real mail”- a handwritten letter! For the last 26 years as a letter carrier, I have witnessed this mail box phenomenon with the resultant heartfelt change of expression that comes when a handwritten letter is discovered in the junk. One customer told me that receiving a handwritten letter was like “honey to my soul”! I love to write letters and I love to receive them. For this past year and a half, I have been attempting to stir some energy to revive the art of the handwritten letter, and preserve this important piece of our culture. ”Future generations won’t know what grandma’s handwriting looks like”, a friend noted. The post office tells me that this kind of mail is dwindling with email and texting taking over. This is true, however there is definitely a pulse to keeping the art form alive. After finding little support from the USPS, I contacted some “heavy hitters”. Oprah is impossible to reach, Martha Stewart only takes ideas from within her organization. Michelle Obama DID answer me with encouraging words only. On the plus side, I met Carl Honore and was introduced to the Slow Movement. “Everything at its own pace”- is the philosophywww.slowplanet.com. Getting permission to slow down, makes my shoulders melt, how delicious is that? So there is a worldwide counterculture movement to slow down. And I’ve observed that in our haste to rush through our lives, we are definitely losing touch with anything that we think “takes too much time”, like writing a letter to someone. Striking a balance is the key, the old CAN co-exist with the new. It has taken me a while to embrace this concept, but alas here I am blogging for the handwritten letter! I am hoping to elicit global encouragement and support. …More shortly…With best wishes, Carol